Exploring Muslims' Interactions with Non-Muslims through Narrative Inquiry: Implications for Social Work Education

Background and Purpose: The American Muslim population is growing rapidly. Consequently, social work students should expect to interact with Muslims in their education and subsequent practice. The profession’s ethical and accreditation standards state that students must be prepared to engage Muslims in an anti-oppressive, culturally competent manner. To facilitate this, educators must create safe spaces in classrooms to discuss common Islamic beliefs and practices. However, little research exists exploring how to create safe educational spaces from the perspective of Muslims. This qualitative study addresses this gap by exploring Muslims’ experiences interacting with non-Muslims. Their experiences can assist educators create safe spaces for Muslim students in classrooms and facilitate students’ adoption of an anti-oppressive stance in their interactions with Muslims in education and future clinical practice.

Methods: Narrative inquiry was used to gather the in-depth experiences of Muslims’ interactions with non-Muslims in educational and non-educational settings. Interviews lasting 60 to 180 minutes were conducted with a purposive sample of Muslim social work graduate students and recent alumni recruited from one university. The sample consisted of 10 Muslims who were predominantly female (n=8) MSW students or alumni (n=7). Half (n=5) were 20 to 29 years of age and identified as “Middle Eastern/Asian.” Participants were recruited using flyers, social media, student listservs, in-class announcements, and snowball sampling. During interviews, participants described their experiences interacting with non-Muslims, including what they desired in future interactions. Interviews were transcribed verbatim. Narrative analysis was used to extract storylines across participants’ stories. Then, summaries of each participant’s story were constructed. Subsequently, storylines were categorized into broader themes. Member-checking was conducted to ensure the trustworthiness of the findings.

Results: Analysis revealed six storylines which were grouped into three themes. In the first theme, Engaged in Interactions, participants described how they were treated in interactions with non-Muslims. In the second theme, Managing Interactions, participants discussed how they managed interactions with non-Muslims. In the third theme, Desired Engagement in Interactions, participants described how they would like to be treated by non-Muslims in future interactions.

Conclusion and Implications: This study addresses a gap in knowledge as it relates to Muslims’ experiences of their interactions with non-Muslims, and through their elucidation, has several implications for social work education. This includes, for instance, incorporating strengths-based content on common Islamic beliefs and practices, and acknowledging the bias Muslims frequently encounter in the broader culture. Instructors might select materials that provide nuanced rather than monolithic or critical discussions of Islamic beliefs and practice. The findings suggest that such content can reduce misunderstandings and bias, and foster environments where Muslims may feel safer to share their perspectives and engage non-Muslims. Such content might also depict Muslims as holistic human beings. The findings reveal participants often felt their Muslim identities were prioritized against their wishes while other aspects of their social identities were ignored. Incorporating these and other strategies suggested by the findings will equip students to engage with Muslims in an anti-oppressive, culturally competent manner in classrooms and practice as required by ethical and educational standards.